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As for the usage of the term 4G in YES’ branding, well that’s a whole different story altogether. “We started work on YES 4G two years ago, but ITU only released their memo last month. In America, no one cares what ITU says, and I find it fascinating that so many people are so fixated on the terminology here. We can’t possibly change our entire business plan to accommodate ITU’s schedule,” responded Mr. Wing K Lee, CEO, YTL Communications.

He goes on to add, “We want to focus on giving the users a better user experience, not on creating more terms to describe our service and subsequently confuse people even more. Fundamentally, OFDMA is different from TDMA and that should be the only thing that matters. The man on the street doesn’t care about what ITU says, he only cares about a page loading 3 to 5 times faster.”

It’s very easy to assume that this is just a very creative way of admitting “no, YES 4G isn’t 4G”, but ultimately it’s the sudden emergence of ITU’s definition that has caused all this confusion.

Simply put though, YES 4G isn’t a 4G service in accordance to ITU’s recently released definition. Regardless of the technology behind it, this is simply because “3 to 5 times over 3G speeds” doesn’t hit ITU’s 100Mbps mark by a long shot. Although this doesn’t in any way justify YTL Communication’s continual use of the term 4G, we have to reluctantly agree that a majority of users will be more concerned about the speed delivered rather than the terminology used.

What does worry us is how YES 4G’s continual dilution of the 4G terminology will affect future players when true 4G technology does eventually arrive on our shores. Will they take the easy route out and call it 5G? Assuming they do, won’t that lead to a never-ending cycle of misinformation?

YTL Comms chief executive officer Wing K. Lee said the attack swamped the portal with hundreds of thousands of requests for subscriptions, which prevented legitimate subscribers from accessing the system.

“We were getting as many as 300,000 hits per second,” he said.

As a result, he added, YTL Comms had to take lengthy steps over the weekend to filter individual blocks of IP addresses in order to circumvent the fake requests.

Wing said more than 15,000 subscribers had been enjoying the Yes service since Friday, adding that only a small percentage of customers were affected by the attack on the portal.

The company said it listed its Yes Care phone-support number on the portal on Sunday afternoon as an additional channel to handle customer queries. It also said that the number was publicised via social media networks.

Cherry Siow, 27, an operations executive, said she had pre-registered her Yes account before the Friday launch in Kuala Lumpur.

“After I had received a notification that my account was activated, I tried to log in but was unable to. The website showed that my Yes ID didn’t exist.”

On Monday, Yes Care sent her an e-mail response, saying that the Yes service was “currently experiencing some minor technical glitches, whereby there would be difficulty in accessing the Yes portal intermittently.”

Another subscriber, Ong Soo Thiah, 28, a software quality assurance engineer at Seagate Sdn Bhd, also complained that he had been unable to log in to his account since Friday. He, too, had pre-registered for the service.

“I complained to Yes Care via its Twitter account and have yet to receive an answer. I think this (level of service) is unacceptable, “ he said in an e-mail interview with The Star.

Seline Lau, 27, a marketing executive at a cosmetics company, was one of the subscribers who had her account activated over the weekend.

She went to the Yes store at Lot 10 on Saturday. “It took about 15 minutes to get the paperwork done at the counter. Activation takes about two hours and by the time I reached home, I could surf,” she said

Internet access has become an integral part of our lives. We use it to shop, to connect with others through social networking sites and email. We use the Internet to conduct business and research, as well as to play games and watch movies or TV programs. However, not all Internet connections are created equal. You will find dialup options, cable and DSL Internet and even mobile options such as those available from your cell phone provider. However, one of the best choices out there is 4G Internet. What does this technology offer you? Here, you will learn a few of the benefits available through this technology.

Home Use - Just like cable and DSL, 4G Internet is an excellent option for home use. It offers the same speeds as those other two broadband connection types, but it offers other benefits, as well. For instance, you can use it with any web-enabled device in your home. This might be your PC, your laptop or a netbook. Simply connect the device to the 4G modem and you can surf to your heart's content. In fact, you can use this technology the same way you would use any other type of connection, surfing and searching, sharing and enjoying.

Mobile Use - Unlike other Internet technologies that can be used at home, such as DSL or cable, 4G Internet can be taken on the road with you. This is largely because of the way in which the signal is delivered to the modem. In a traditional situation, the Internet signal is transmitted via a physical connection to your phone or cable lines. However, 4G makes use of a different technology.

In essence, this is much the same as the way in which signal is delivered to your cell phone, though more advanced, more stable and more powerful than your cell phone signal. 4G signal is sent out from towers, just as cell phone signal is. When it reaches your modem, you can use it to access the Internet.

This means that you can take your Internet connection on the road and never have to worry about finding a hotspot or tethering your phone again. This also means that with the right equipment, you can carry your own hotspot with you, letting everyone within your vehicle (or hotel room, etc), access the Internet. Yes, it means an end to boredom and complaints, too.

The Future - Plans are already in the works for the future of 4G Internet access. Not only will this technology provide you with home and mobile benefits, but also it will allow advanced devices and applications to be developed that are more readily available to anyone with such a connection. In the future, you can expect 4G technology to begin outstripping traditional options in the marketplace, with this becoming the most popular choice for Internet access in most cities in the US. A global initiative is also being pushed, in order to broaden the program to the four corners of the world.